Integrating Mobile Shopping with the In-store Experience

Peter Prestipino

Posted on 1.27.2015

MarketLive is advising retailers that the time is now for them to integrate in-store inventory and on-floor sales help with their online commerce websites and promotions in order to capture online sales.

The e-commerce technology platform's recently released results from its latest quarterly Performance Index(tm), revealing consumers have clearly embraced online shopping from their smartphones.

MarketLive data indicates consumers have boosted their spending by 125 percent across and product categories. Some categories, including furniture and housewares retailers, reported even higher triple-digit increases in purchases.

"Consumers are walking into brick-and-mortar stores with better product information and pricing research than the sales clerks working there. They are literally standing there in the store with their phone in their hands, researching information," said Ken Burke, founder and CEO of MarketLive Inc. "The good news is they are in the store, ready to buy. And the smarter retailers have figured out how to capture these online sales by integrating mobile shopping with their in-store experiences, adapting their marketing programs to align with how shoppers browse on smartphones, and equipping their in-store sales clerks with the tools to find the inventory and complete the transaction."

MarketLive customer Sport Chalet equipped sales clerks at nine of its retail stores with iPads, which they have been using to help customers compare products, find the right colors and sizes, and complete online purchases on their own smartphones even as they stand in the aisles of the physical store. And the effort is paying dividends.

"Our online revenues coming from both desktop and mobile increased significantly over the holiday period, despite a device shift in customer behavior which drove mobile visitors up sharply," said Don Delzell, director of online at Short Chalet. "We believe that customers begin their shopping journey on mobile devices, often in-store, and then use the device of their choice to complete the journey."